Portable baths



Feb. 19, 1957 Filed May 6; 1955 C. S. PHILLIPS ET AL PORTABLE BATHS a She ets-Sheet 1 Feb. 19, 1957 c. s. PHILLIPS ETAL 2,781,522

PORTABLE BATHS Filed May 6, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS:

ATTORNEYS.

Feb. 19, 1957 c s. PHILLIPS ETAL 2,781,522

PORTABLE BATHS Filed May a, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 8

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ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent PORTABLE BATHS Clive Selsey Phillips, Tnnbridge Wells, Kent, and Patricia Rosemary Doreen Millns, St. Pauls Cray, Kent, England Application May 6, 1955, Serial No. 506,628

3 Claims. (Cl. 4-177) This invention relates to portable baths such as used for bathing infants. Portable baths as normally used are supported by a trestle, table or chair and in some instances they are composed of a flexible plastic or waterproofed fabric for folding away. However the manner of supporting them does not render it convenient for filling them with water from the usual domestic supply tap and for emptying them, and also if the infant splashes the water this causes a troublesome mess which has to be cleaned up. Further with the collapsible type of portable bath the collapsible trestle or stand associated with it is an expensive piece of equipment. The object of the present invention is to obviate these disadvantages.

A further and particular object of the present invention is to provide a portable bath of the class specified and adapted to rest upon the rim of a normal bath.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a portable bath which is foldable into a relatively small space.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect drawings are appended hereto illustrating an embodiment thereof, and wherein- Figures 1, 2 and 3 are side, end and plan views respectively showing the bath in the opened-out condition, Figure 3 also showing in broken lines the bath as collapsed.

Figure 4 is a detail inverted plan view to a larger scale of a suitable form of joint for each foldable end frame unit,

Figure 5 is a front elevation view of Figure 4,

Figure 6 is a section on the line Vl-Vl of Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a detail front elevation view, also to a larger scale than Figure l of one end of one of the foldable frame units, and

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 of an alternative form of the part shown in that figure.

Referring to the drawings, the body 1 of the collapsible bath is a sheet of suitable flexible waterproof material, e. g. rubberised fabric or reinforced plastic sheet material formed with two parallel longitudinal hems 2 receiving two parallel rigid longitudinal frame members 3, which for convenience of production are of channel section meta-l or metal alloy with their channels opposed. The longitudinal frame members 3 are pivoted to fore and aft frame units also preferably of channel section metal and with their channels disposed respectively forwardly and rearwardly and each comprising two channel section elements 4 and 5. member 3 to the fore and aft frame units can be by prolonging the upper and lower limbs of the channel section bars as lugs 6 through which and the interposed elements 4 and 5 are passed riveted over pins 7, pop rivets or screws fitted with nuts and washers. The two elements 4 and 5 of each end frame unit are pivoted together by a pin 8 (see Figures 4, 5 and 6) passed through lugs 9 and 10 formed in prolongation of the upper limbs of the channel section elements 4 and 5, the top of the pin 8 having a head 11 and its lower end being riveted over in a resilient metal strip 12 secured slidably at one The pivoted connection of the frame- 2,781,522 Patented Feb. 19, 1957 end on a pin 13 riveted to the element 5 and its other end formed with a pressed up protuberance 14 e. g. by punching a hole in the strip 12 so as to leave an upper proud extruded part, which snaps into a hole 15 in the element 4. A compression spring 16 is interposed between the head 11 and the upper lug 10 to retain the locking engagement of the protuberance 14 in the hole 15 to lock the parts 4 and 5 in the opened condition. Thus, to break this locking action of the pivoted joint of the elements 4 and 5, the head 11 is pressed downwards to free the protuberance 14 from the hole 15, whereupon the bath can be collapsed into a compact form, as shown in broken lines in Figure 3 by folding the pivoted two pairs of elements 4 and 5 towards each other, the aforesaid inward facing of the channels of the longitudinal frame members 3 enabling the contiguous parts 4a and 5a to nest in the ends of the members 3, and for this purpose the elements 4 and 5 are bowed or bent as at 4b, 5b inwardly from the parts which are connected together by the pins 8.

The fore and aft parts of the flexible body 1 are shaped to follow somewhat the shape of the elements 4 and 5 and are fastened to such elements in a manner which will avoid straining the material of the body 1 when the bath is collapsed and opened. Suitable fastening means for this purpose comprises strong press button fasteners 17 on opposite sides of the pivot pins 8. Also to avoid the lock-joint means of the elements 4 and 5 including the pins 8 fouling and injuring the adjacent rim parts of the fore and aft ends of the bath body 1, such parts are recessed or trimmed inwardly as at 18.

The outer ends of the elements 4 and 5 are rested on the flange of the normal bath when the portable bath is in use, the arrangement being such that in this condition the longitudinal members 3 are spaced a few inches within the flange of the bath to enable water splashed over from the portable bath to fall into the normal bath. To avoid injuring the flange of the normal bath and also to afford a convenient arrangement of handles for manipulating the portable bath the ends of the elements 4 and 5 have fitted over them tubular handles 19 preferably fitted with rubber or plastic outer sleeves 20 (see Figure 7). The inner ends of these tubular handles are formed with flanges 21 to abut against the walls of the normal bath, and it is preferred to make the handles adjustable axially relatively to the elements 4 and 5 to allow for different widths and shapes of normal baths. This adjustment can be achieved by embracing each tube 19 with a split spring collar 22 carrying a pin 23 which passes through the selected one of a line of holes 24 in the associated elements 4 or 5. The flanges 21 act as abutments to prevent lateral displacement of the portable bath when in use so as to avoid the risk of the portable bath falling into the normal bath.

As an alternative to the flanges 21 the end elements 4 and 5 outside the side members 3 can be cranked upwards to provide four outer handle parts 31 in a plane above the rim of the portable bath, the vertical parts 32 of such crankings thereby serving as stops against the inner wall of the bath. The said handle parts would be covered with protective sleeves 33. It will be obvious that, in such an alternative arrangement if it is desired to make the end elements adjustable to suit various widths of normal baths, the end elements can, as illustrated, be adjustable in effective length by the means employed for adjusting the handles 19 relatively to the elements 4 and 5.

We claim:

1. A portable bath for bathing infants, comprising a collapsible flexible container for the water and a pair of longitudinal rigid frame members having secured thereto longitudinal rim parts of the container and fore and aft frame units adapted to act as struts for the longitudinal frame members and dimensioned so as to span a normal domestic bath and to rest upon or to be secured to the flange of the domestic bath, the longitudinal members and fore and aft units being formed from standard channel section metal bars and the ends of the longitudinal members being formed with lugs; in continuity with the opposed limbs of the channels and pivoted to the corresponding limbs of the channels of the fore and aft units by pivot members, the channels of the longitudinal members being opposed and the said fore and aft unitsbeing bent forwards from their pivoted connections to the longitudinal members and thereby shaped so that parts thereof contiguous to the longitudinal members will nest in the channels of the longitudinal members.

2. A portable bath for bathing infants comprising a body part in the form of a sheet of flexible Waterproof material suspended by marginal parts thereof from two longitudinal rigid frame members and fore and aft transverse foldable units, each or". said foldable units being extended beyond the longitudinal members to engage with the flange of a normal bath so that the said body part will form a trough within the frame constituted by the longitudinal members and fore and aft units and suspended beneath the flange of the normal bath, and means to adjust the effective length of" the said fore and aft units, said fore and aft units each comprising two bars pivoted together at opposed ends to form a break back connection and provided with a spring latch connector for maintaining them in relatively fixed linear continuity with each other.

3. A portable bath according to claim 2 wherein each spring latch connector comprises a vertical pin passed through overlapping lugs on the ends of the two barsand secured at one end to a resilientlstrip anchored near one end to one bar and having a protuberance near its other end which snaps into a hole in the other bar.

ReferencesCitediin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,576 Presson May 18, 1915 1,167,849 Sherman Ian. 11, 1916 1,501,833 Amsel July 15, 1924 2,096,395 Galt Oct. 19, 1937 2,495,964 Gustaveson Jan. 31, 1950 2,495,965 Gustaveson Jan. 31, 1950 

